The present invention relates to telecommunications in general and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for transmitting a signal.
Telecommunications influences the personal, social and business affairs of people everyday. Over the past few decades, the telecommunications industry has made significant strides toward the goal of making their services available to anyone, anywhere and at anytime. These services have expanded through advances in wireless, broadband and multimedia telecommunications. In each of these areas, the most persistent obstacles to continued expansion arise from human factors. For example, one such obstacle is how to devise telecommunications equipment that will connect a caller to any party he or she wishes to be connected to at the moment he or she wishes to be connected.
Although people often conceive, and colloquially speak of, calling another person, a telephone system conventionally routes a call to a telephone and not, strictly speaking, to the desired person. But because the telephone system can only connect a call to a telephone and not to a person, a functional gap exists between what callers generally desire to do and what the telephone system enables them to do.
Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and apparatus for conveying an identifying signal (e.g., a telephone number, an Internet address) to a user to initiate a call (whether voice, video, data or multimedia) while avoiding many of the costs and restrictions associated with conventional techniques. Specifically, embodiments of the present invention transmit an electromagnetic carrier modulated with the identifying signal of an associated communication terminal (e.g., a wireless terminal, a wireline terminal, an automatic call distribution system) for receipt by a second communication terminal. The second communication terminal can, for example, use the identifying signal to initiate a call to the communication terminal associated with the embodiment.
An illustrative embodiment of the present invention comprises a beacon that transmits a signal that identifies one or more communication terminals. A beacon typically comprises a controller that drives a transmission element to radiate an electromagnetic carrier having modulated thereon an identifying signal of its associated communications terminal. In some embodiments, the beacon advantageously includes a receiver for use in remotely modifying the identifying signal for the beacon. Further, in other embodiments, a power source, such as a solar cell, advantageously provides power to beacons that operate in remote locations.
One or more communication terminals that include a directional receiver are used for receiving the signal from the beacons. The directional receiver is capable of receiving the electromagnetic carrier. A processor in the communication terminal is capable of recovering the identifying signal from the electromagnetic carrier, and initiating a call in well known fashion based on the identifying signal.
For example, an automobile containing a cellular telephone could have mounted by each license plate an embodiment of the present invention that radiates the telephone number of the cellular telephone in the automobile. If a user of a cellular telephone with a directional receiver desires to call that automobile, the user can point the directional receiver at one of the beacons to receive the identifying signal and initiate a call to the cellular telephone in the automobile.
Alternative embodiments of the invention provide a method and apparatus for initiating a telecommunications call (whether voice, video, data or multimedia) while avoiding many of the costs and restrictions associated with conventional techniques. Specifically, alternative embodiments of the present invention enable the initiation of a telecommunications call to a communication terminal (e.g., a wireless terminal, a wireline terminal, an automatic call distribution system, etc.) based on the reception of an identifying address (e.g., the telephone number, the Internet address) of the communications terminal via a directional receiver.
Illustratively, an alternative embodiment of the present invention comprises a wireless terminal that is operably connected to a directional receiver and operates in conjunction with one or more beacons. The directional receiver is capable of receiving the electromagnetic carrier. A processor in the alternative embodiment is capable of recovering the identifying signal from the electromagnetic carrier and initiating a call, in well-known fashion, based on the identifying signal.
For example, an automobile containing a cellular telephone can have mounted by each license plate a beacon that radiates the telephone number of the cellular telephone in the automobile. If a user of this alternative embodiment desires to call that automobile, the user can point the directional receiver at one of the beacons to receive the identifying signal and initiate a call to the cellular telephone in the automobile.